Hidden Memories
by Sango Hikari
Summary: After her death, Orihime is reincarnated, with no memories from before she died. What happens when she starts to remember things from her past life? And what if someone doesn't want her to remember?[IchixHimexIshi]
1. The Dream

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach or any of its characters, no matter how much I may want to.

* * *

Reincarnation is a funny thing. Why are some people reincarnated, while others are not? Who makes the decision on whether you get to be reborn? Is it the same person who decides whether you go to Heaven or Hell? Or is it some other force entirely? 

When one _is_ deemed worthy of being reincarnated, one of two things can happen. First, you can just be born again, keeping all memories, abilities, and feelings from when you were first alive. Or you can completely start anew, with no memory of your past life.

After her death, Inoue Orihime is given a second chance. Born renew, with no powers or memories of her previous adventures, she has the opportunity to live a normal, happy life. However, just because she doesn't remember her past, doesn't mean the memories have been erased. They lay dormant within her, buried deep in her heart. Certain events will bring them back to life, such as people from the past that have also been reborn.

Along with Soul Society, there is another realm parallel to Earth. If Soul Society is Heaven, then this world is surely Hell. Just as the Shinigami work to defeat the Hollows, the members of Zetsumei work to create them. Deep within this realm lies a secret; one that will change Orihime's life forever.

This is where our story begins; one hundred years after the young girl's death in the year 2010. And remember: things aren't always as they seem.

----------

_The monster came flying towards them, faster and fiercer than it had been just a moment ago. The thing refused to stay down; no matter how many times it was hit, it just sprung back. Swords, arrows, energy blasts…none of them had any effect._

_There were four of them fighting the creature. In the lead was a boy with bright orange hair. He wielded a giant sword, as long as he was tall; he referred to it as Zangetsu. Directly behind him stood two more boys; one was large and had an unusual arm with enormous power, and the other was skinny, with glasses and a large bow made entirely of spiritual energy. And behind all the others was a girl, with long red hair and beautiful hair clips in the form of blue snowflakes. Although there were no visible signs of her power, hidden inside the clips were six fairy-like creatures with strength of their own._

_To the girl, it seemed as if she was always in the back, watching everyone from behind. She had been protected numerous times, and although she had been blessed with a unique power, she could never seem to do anything but get in the way. In battle, she was the one they sent away first when things got bad; when someone needed to stay behind to look after others that happened to be nearby, she was always the one they asked. Always from the sidelines, she watched as her friends fought, and protected._

_She could attack. She could defend. She could heal. So why was she so useless? The answer was simple: she lacked the will to fight. Yes, if her friends or loved ones were in danger, she would certainly do everything in her power to protect them. But when it all came down to it, she didn't have the fighting instinct needed to fight to her full potential. She hated to see anyone in pain, including her enemies; thus, when in battle, she couldn't bring herself to attack with her full power._

_The creature in front of her was different. The others referred to it as a Hollow; a soul that had either been devoured or turned evil by its own anger or greed. With the right equipment, one can cleanse the Hollow of all evil energy and purify its soul. However, the only one capable of doing so was the orange-haired teen; so, once again, she was useless._

_This particular Hollow was stronger than most. Even when hit by the magical sword, the Zanpakuto, it refused to leave the world of the living and rest in peace. The other two had joined in the fight, sending attacks of their own at the monster, but none seemed to have any effect. The Hollow had a large shell on its back that matched the while mask it had over its face, and used it to deflect oncoming attacks. It also had spikes on the shell, and after repelling their attacks yet again, it sent them flying in all different directions, most of them headed for those who were attacking it._

_The girl saw her chance to help. "Hinagiku, Baigon, Lily!" she yelled, the three fairies whose names she called appearing from her clips. "Santen Ketsuhun! I reject!" As she said the kotodama, a large triangular shield appeared in front of the oncoming spikes. They hit and bounced off, clattering harmlessly to the ground._

"_Thanks, Inoue!" The orange-haired boy said, turning and giving her a smile. She blushes slightly and shifted her gaze to the ground. "N-no problem," she stuttered. The boy, slightly confused at her embarrassment, turned to resume the fight._

_But the Hollow was gone._

_Suddenly, a scream pierced through the night, followed by blood spurting into the air. Everyone turned, and saw the girl lying on the ground, the Hollow standing right behind her._

Orihime awoke with a start, breathing heavily. Her violet blankets were wrapped tightly around her, a sign that she had been tossing and turning greatly in her sleep. She sat up in her bed, beads of sweat rolling down her cheek. Her fingers felt numb; she looked down to see that she was unconsciously gripping her comforter so hard that she had cut off the circulation to them. She released the blanket from her death grip, and sighed as she pushed a stray strand of hair from her face.

She had had _the dream_ again.

The terrifying vision had disturbed her dreams for as long as she could remember. It was always the same: the same people; the same attacks; the same monster; the same feelings of despair and weakness. Every time, there would be the image of her lying on the ground, surrounded by blood. And every time, the dream would end at that same spot, leaving her to wonder what happened next.

But she knew. Every time, the dream ended with her death.

Even though she never actually saw herself die, she just knew that was the outcome of the dream; which was why it scared her half to death each time she saw it. What's more, the contents of the dream beforehand were just plain weird. People with strange powers, the weird fairy things she could control…even the 'Hollow,' as the others in her dream called it, was strange. The white mask it wore spooked her to no end.

She didn't even _know_ the people she fought with, though they obviously knew her, from the way the orange-headed boy had addressed her. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that she had seen them from somewhere; though she wasn't sure she wanted to know them. She had used her own strange powers to protect them; but while doing so, the Hollow had been able to sneak up on her, without anyone noticing it. But how? There were three others there besides herself; surely one of them would have seen it. The sad truth was that none of them had been paying her enough attention to notice that it was right behind her, ready to strike.

And so, she had died.

Orihime shook her head vigorously. "What am I thinking?" she said aloud, glancing across the room to the clock on the wall; it read 6:38. "It's only a dream; it's not like it means anything." She left the warmth of her bed and stepped onto the cold wooden floor, heading for the bathroom. She splashed cold water from the sink on her face, ridding her mind of all thoughts of sleepiness. Grabbing a purple towel off of the shelf above the toilet, she began to dry her face. When she removed the fluffy cloth and hung it up on the towel rack, she saw dark circles underneath her eyes; the dream had obviously kept her from sleeping well.

She sighed and headed back to her room. The bus came to pick her up around 7:15, so she had to get ready. She quickly slipped into her school uniform, which consisted of a white shirt and a grey skirt. Once dressed, she set herself down in front of her mirror and began applying eyeliner so as to hide the ever-darkening circles under them; they were the reason she had bought make-up in the first place. It seemed that every time she had the dream, she would need it.

"Orihime? Are you up?" Her brother, Sora, called from downstairs. He was her only family. Their parents had died when she was three, so, being eighteen at the time, he decided to take care of her. They were always there for each other, and hardly ever fought. It was he who had given her the blue hairpins; it was odd how they showed up in her dream, and stranger still that they held some weird power. However, in real life, they were just regular clips that she used to keep her hair out of her face.

"Coming!" she called, and after taking one last look in the mirror, she ran downstairs to join her brother for breakfast. As she came bounding down the steps, her overly-large breasts bounced up and down in rhythm to her feet. It really was no wonder that she was one of the more popular girls in school; the guys were always swooning over her. To them, she was as close to a goddess as they were going to get. And, being the ditz that she was, she rarely even noticed when the guys were hitting on her.

"Good morning, Orihime,"Sora said, smiling. After his sister was settled and happily munching on her rice, he asked, "Did you sleep well?" Over the years, he began to notice that when she wore excessive make-up around her eyes, she hadn't slept well the night before. Of course, the fact that she was constantly yawning was an obvious sign.

"I slept ok," she answered, setting down her rice bowl to have a sip of tea. Glancing over the cup, she could tell that her brother didn't believe her; it was written all over his face. "Did you have that dream again?" he asked quietly when she had set the cup down. Since she had been having the dream since she was very young, she had told him about it whenever it had occurred. Lately, however, she had decided that she didn't want to worry him, and had tried to keep it to herself. But her brother knew her so well that it was no use trying to hide it. She nodded.

"You've been having it a lot lately,"Sora noted. It was true; the dream had been occurring more frequently as of late. When she was younger, it seemed to happen only a few times a year. Now, however, it had become a few times a month; sometimes as often as twice a week. She had even gone to see the counselor at school a couple of years back, but, after seeing how happy and carefree Orihime was, the woman decided that it was nothing to worry about.

Orihime glanced at the clock, which now read 7:09, and gasped. The morning had gone by much faster than she had thought. "I'm late!" she cried, dashing back up to her room to grab her pack. After stuffing her homework from the night before inside, she proceeded to the door and slipped her shoes on. "Bye, Nii-san!" she called behind her as she rushed out the door. As she was walking out, she tripped and tumbled down the steps outside. She sighed. It was going to be a long day.

----------

Orihime sat at her desk, massaging her knee, which had a small gash in it. On the way to the bus stop, she fell two more times, and had also tripped while exiting the vehicle. Her knee had landed on a rock, which was the reason for the trail of blood that was now running down her leg.

She felt a bandage being pushed over the wound, and winced at the sudden pressure. She looked up to see a black-haired girl leaning over her, applying first-aid to her knee. She smiled. "Thanks, Tatsuki-chan."

The girl sighed. "Really, Orihime," she said as she finished applying the bandage. "You should be more careful. It's amazing you haven't broken any bones with the way you're always falling down and running into things." She stood up from where she had been leaning and stretched. Ever since Orihime had first met the tomboyish girl, she had been attracted to her. It wasn't that she was in love with her or anything like that; it was just that she had a strange feeling that they were meant to meet. It wasn't until she had saved Orihime from drowning in the river when she was eight that they actually became friends.

The bell rang, signaling the start of the school day. Their teacher walked in, and began taking roll. Orihime yawned, tired from the lack of decent sleep the night before, already wishing for the day to end. She was just about to space out and enter her own little world when the teacher said, "We have two new students joining us today. They're both from different schools, but happened to transfer at the same titme. I would like to introduce Kurosaki Ichigo-san and Ishida Uryuu-san." As she said this, the two students entered the classroom; one had bright orange hair, while the other had glasses that he kept constantly adjusting. Orihime gasped.

They were the two from her dream.

* * *

**Author's notes:**

In the statement, 'If Soul Society is Heaven, then this world is surely Hell,' I was only speaking figuratively. I realize that Soul Society is not really Heaven, but it is similar in the way that it is where the good souls go when they die. I was only comparing the two; please note that Zetsumei isn't really Hell, only a place that is similar to it.

* * *

Welcome to chapter one of _Hidden Memories._ I hope you all enjoyed it. This is just an idea that came to me while I was trying to get to sleep at night, and I'm not really sure what people will think of it. Please review, if only to tell me whether or not I should continue it. Also, I don't think that Chad will be in it much. He was reincarnated like the others, but lived in Mexico with his grandfather. He will appear in flashbacks from time to time, but won't be a main character. Thank you all for reading. 


	2. The Plan

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Bleach.

* * *

Orihime stared blankly at the two boys in the front of the classroom. _It's not possible! _She thought. _They were in my dream! How can they be here? And is it just me, or are they looking over here?_

"So, please tell us a little about yourselves," her teacher was saying to her new students. "Kurosaki-san, how about you go first?"

"Yo," the orange-haired boy said. "I'm Ichigo. I just transferred here from Kyoto. If anyone makes a crack about my hair color, they're dead." Some of the students laughed at this, while others looked a little afraid of the threat.

"Pleased to meet you," the one with glasses said, while pushing them up his nose. "I am Ishida Uryuu. I like to sew, and wish to join the Crafts Club once I am settled. I just came here from Hiroshima." He was obviously much more polite than his companion.

"Yes, thank you," the teacher said, looking slightly pale as she stood next to Ichigo. "Now, it looks like there are two seats in the back next to Inoue-san. Inoue-san, can you stand up please? Inoue-san?"

Orihime had been so concentrated on the two that she failed to notice that her name was being called. After the third time she was called on, however, she finally heard. "Yes?" she said, standing up abruptly. In her haste, however, her foot got caught in her chair, and she fell forward, landing roughly on the floor. The class erupted in laughter at her clumsiness, and both Ichigo and Ishida sweatdropped as she stood up.

"Um, yes, well, you two can each take a seat in the desks next to her," the teacher said, adjusting her own glasses. The two strolled casually over to their new seats next to Orihime, who had gotten back in her chair and was red from embarrassment.

"Yo," Ichigo said, causing her bring her gaze up from her desk. "What's up? You're Orihime, right?" Orihime looked at him. "How did you know that? Sensei didn't tell you my first name."

"Oops," Ichigo said, hitting himself on the head. "Um, forgot I said that, k?" He received a questioning glance from the girl, and looked to Ishida for help. "Idiot," the Quincy muttered under his breath before turning to Orihime. "What he meant was that Sensei had her attendance book open on her desk, and we learned your name that way."

""Um, sure," Orihime said, turning her attention to the board, which the teacher was writing math problems upon. She desperately wanted to tell them about her dream, and see if they knew why they were in it, but she didn't want them to think she was some kind of stalker or something. When the bell rang for lunch, she headed up to the rooftop, hoping the fresh air would help her think. When she got there, however, she found that two people had gotten there before her.

"So, she really doesn't remember anything," Ichigo was saying, oblivious to the girl that was hiding behind the doorway that led to the roof. Orihime noticed that his voice had a touch of disappointment in it.

"What were you expecting?" Ishida replied, once again adjusting his glasses. "We were told that she wouldn't, remember? Why do you think we're here?"

"I know that!" Ichigo snapped, folding his arms across his chest. "It's just…weird, is all. Seeing her like this, without her even remembering who we are…I think I'd rather have her hate us for what happened then have her not remember us at all."

Instantly, Orihime was reminded of her dream, and how she had died because no one else was paying enough attention to her. _Could that possibly be what they're talking about?_ She wondered, then shook her head vigorously. _No, that's not possible! If they were talking about that, then that would mean that it actually happened; which is impossible, because I'm alive, aren't I?_

"I see you still blame yourself," Ishida said. "Well, I can't say I blame you. I also hold myself responsible for what happened." For him, instead of disappointment, his voice held a touch of sadness.

"Why did Soul Society put us in charge of bringing her memory back?" Ichigo said, leaning on the railing that surrounded the rooftop. "Even if we knew how, we would only bring back painful memories. About how she used her powers to protect us, and we just let her die…"

"Beating yourself up isn't going to help things, Kurosaki," Ishida said, interrupting him. "I feel the same way you do about what happened, but there's nothing we can do to change the past. What's happened has happened. We can, however, try to make up for it by helping the present."

Ichigo had to smile. "You sound like a walking textbook," he said. "But you're right. We'll just have to do our best. But it's weird. She still has her powers, right? So why can't I sense her reiatsu?"

"We were told that her powers were sealed away, remember?" Ishida replied. "She does have them, but my guess is that they're buried so deep inside her that we can't sense them. She won't regain them until her memories are completely restored, which is why we're here."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," Ichigo said, stretching his arms. "So, any idea how we're going to get her memories back?"

"Well, I think we should mention things from her past that were important, such as the names of the Shunshun Rikka, or other items of equal significance," Ishida answered. "Perhaps pointing out certain things will help her memories to surface; maybe even just the simple mention of Soul Society will have some effect."

_Soul Society? Why does that sound so familiar? _Orihime wondered. _Could it really be me they're talking about? But it just doesn't sound probable. They said that whoever they were talking about died, right? So it can't be me. I mean, if I had died, I think I would remember._ She almost as she thought the last part. When looked at rationally, everything she was hearing and even thinking sounded so unrealistic; but she had to wonder: If she really had died, _would_ she remember? What if she had been brought back to life or something, but had no remembrance of anything? _What am I thinking? That's not possible. Maybe they're talking about a video game or something. Yeah, that must be it!_

Just then, her stomach rumbled loudly, causing her to remember that she had yet to eat lunch. She walked back down the stairs and made her way to her classroom, where she took out her bento and began munching happily on rice balls smothered in orange juice.

----------

Orihime had decided that the conversation she had overheard was indeed about some sort of video game, in which they had to help a certain character regain her memories. The reason that the Soul Society thing had sounded familiar to her was because it had something to do with the game, and she must have heard of it somewhere before. This reasoning helped explain almost everything in their entire conversation; but she still didn't know why they had appeared in her dream.

During her afternoon classes, Orihime began to wonder if she should ask them about it. Yes, she would run the risk of sounding like a psychopath, but what if she could get some answers? For some strange reason, she felt a connection similar to the one she felt when she was with Tatsuki; it was as if they had met before. She figured it was because she had seen them many times before in her dream, but the feeling was still strange.

After what seemed like forever, the final bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. Orihime began gathering up her things, still thinking about what she could do. She was do deep in thought that she didn't even notice that the two beside her had yet to leave as well.

"Ahem," Ishida said, getting her attention. "Inoue-san, I heard that you were in the Crafts Club. Were you, by chance, on you way to a meeting?" Surprised by the sudden question, Orihime nodded. "Well then, may I ask to accompany you? I am interested in joining, but I have no idea where the classroom is."

"Oh, of course!" Orihime said, smiling. "Just follow me. I'm sure you'll really like it! The members are really friendly, and we have the best materials, and…" She began rambling off other benefits of joining the Crafts Club as she led Ishida out of the classroom. She was so caught up in talking about the wonders of knitting that she failed to notice the secret glance the two boys exchanged as they left.

----------

As they walked, Ishida recalled the latter part of their earlier conversation; the part that had continued after Orihime had ceased her spying.

"_Yeah, we could try that," Ichigo said, referring to Ishida's previous suggestion. "But we were told no to give her any reason to suspect anything, in case _they _should notice something and become suspicious. How are we going to do that? Things like Soul Society and the Shunshun Rikka aren't exactly normal conversation starters."_

"_We'll just have to bring them up casually during conversation," Ishida replied. "Perhaps say we're writing a story and need opinions on the content, or something of the sort. With any luck, her memories will come back before she can suspect anything."_

"_Alright," Ichigo agreed. "When should we start?"_

"_If memory serves, the Crafts Club should be meeting this afternoon. I'll go along with her, saying that I want to join, and go from there. I will let you know this evening if anything significant happens." And with that, they headed off to class, waiting for the opportunity to put their plan into action._

So far, everything was going well. Ishida had casually invited himself to join Orihime for the afternoon meeting, and it appeared that the girl didn't think anything of it, since she had agreed to being his escort so quickly. Her insistent rambling brought a smile to the Quincy's face as he recalled past experiences with the carefree girl. _She really hasn't changed,_ he thought, a feeling of sadness flowing through his body. Although he had successfully hidden his emotions from Ichigo, he was feeling just as much pain as the orange-haired boy. He, too, felt responsible for what had happened; though he didn't like to think about what he was referring to. It brought back too many painful memories.

"We're here!" Orihime said cheerfully, gesturing to the classroom they now stood in front of. She turned to him for a moment. "Hey, do you mind if I call you Ishida-kun?" she asked, twiddling her fingers; it was a habit that had started when she was young, and she did it without realizing. "Ishida-san seems too, I don't know, formal. Of course, if you'd rather I'd call you that, that's fine."

_Isida-kun._ Even the name brought back memories. "No, that's fine," he said, adjusting his glasses nervously. "I don't mind." Orihime smiled brightly before turning around and leading him into the classroom, where we was instantly welcomed once they saw his incredible sewing skills.

"Wow, you're amazing, Ishida-kun!" Orihime squealed, glancing down at her own stuffed animal; their task for the afternoon was to sew an arm back onto the broken plush toys. "I wish I could sew as well as you do. I keep doing my stitches funny."

"Aside from that, though, you're really quite good, Inoue-san," Ishida said, swiftly moving the needle in and out of the fabric. "You have a good technique; you just need to perfect it."

"Wow, you really think so?" Orihime said, returning to her own sewing with newfound confidence. "When I'm done, I think I'll name her Neko-chan! What about you, Ishida-kun?"

Ishida saw his chance to start their plan. "I think I'll name mine Tsubaki," he said. "Or maybe Baigon. I haven't decided. What do you think, Inoue-san?" When he received no response, he looked over at her, and was startled at what he saw. Orihime's eyes had a distant look to them, as if her mind was elsewhere, and she had ceased her sewing.

She was remembering something from the past.

* * *

Well, here's chapter two! Thank you to those who reviewed the first part. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and as always, please review and tell me what you think! Also, I'm thinking about bringing in some of the Shinigami from Soul Society, so any requests on that are welcome! 


	3. The Memory

Konnichiwa, minna! Welcome to chapter three of _Hidden Memories._ This chapter starts out with one thing we all remember: when Orihime first got her powers. The next few chapters will have a lot of memories and flashbacks, so please bear with me. Just remember, they will always be in _italics. _Also, most of the dialogue, descriptions, etc. came from volume 5 of the manga.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Bleach. If I did, I would be Tite-sensei, which I'm not.

* * *

_Things seemed to be going downhill fast._

_Orihime was being pushed to the ground by a group of students from her school. It wasn't their fault, though; they were being controlled by the giant creature in front of her. It had a large white mask and many slimy tentacles for legs and arms. Its ability was that it could shoot seeds into its victims, and they would do anything it told them to._

_Orihime wasn't the only one being attacked by the controlled high schoolers; her best friend, Tatsuki, was also being held by a mob of them, but she was in worse shape than her friend. Her forehead was bleeding a great deal, and the white tip of a seed could be seen poking out of the wound. She was also breathing heavily, trying her hardest to resist the monster's mind control._

"_How do you feel?" The creature said, laughing. "The seeds I shot into you are now taking over your body. Soon, I'll be able to control your movements. So, how should I make you pay for interrupting my fun with that girl?" He shot a glance at Orihime, who was struggling against the ones that were holding her. "I could have you beaten up by the other students, then make you choke yourself to death. Or, have them tear out your hair and hang you from the roof, then make you cut the rope and kill yourself…or…um…" He paused to think. Behind him, Orihime was still struggling fiercely._

"_Shut her up!" the thing commanded; instantly, her head was pushed into the ground. He turned his gaze back to Tatsuki. "Now, what to do? It's hard for an unspoiled mind like mine to devise wicked tortures…Aha! You'll come up with the third option yourself! Plan your own death…" He stopped, thinking he heard something. "What?"_

"_I said shut up…shut up and let Orihime go!" Tatsuki said. The thing went over and stood directly in front of her, lifting her chin up with one of its tentacles. "Do you understand the position you're in?" it asked. "Right now, your life is in my tentacles!" He began to laugh, but stopped when Tatsuki bit his tentacle…hard. _

"_Ow!" it cried, attempting to get the girl to let go. "Let go, let go! LET GO!" He hit her in the head with another tentacle, but it didn't work. "Why you…I said let go, brat!" He hit her again, this time hard enough to draw blood, and she finally let go. She then began kicking those that were holding her, trying to get free. "Y-you're not worth controlling!" it sputtered. "Die! Die now!"_

"_Tatsuki!" Orihime yelled, once again trying to get free from the students' hold. "Let go! Let me go!" She managed to get free, but not before Tatsuki took one last hit and was sent sprawling to the ground. "Tatsuki!" she cried, running over to her friend. She was crying now, but not from the pain of her own injuries; it was at the sight of her best friend lying injured before her. Then, before she could react, Tatsuki's foot came up and kicked her in the stomach._

_She doubled over, looking up at her friend. Tatsuki had tears running down her cheeks. Orihime reached up and gently touched the side of her face. _Thank you, Tatsuki, _she thought. _For protecting me…the last three years. Thank you. Please, don't cry. Don't cry… "_From now on, I'll protect you."_

_As she said this, her hairpins began to glow. She stood and turned to face the monster. "Tatsuki said, 'You picked on the wrong person'. Now I'm telling you…you hurt the wrong person. I show no mercy to anyone who hurts Tatsuki!"_

"_Y-you won't show mercy to _me?_" The thing said, chuckling. "What are you? Where does your confidence come from?" Then he noticed something. "What are those little gnats around you?" Orihime looked around. "What are they?"_

"_You didn't see them?"_

"_No, you noticed us," a voice said to Orihime. As she looked around her, she saw six things flying around her. "You must have sensed our presence. Because we've always been close to you." The one talking landed on her shoulder, the other five hovering behind her. "Nice to meet you, Orihime. We're ShunShun Rikka, the six princess-shielding flowers. Our job is to protect you. We are your power!"_

"Inoue-san!"

Orihime was startled out of her thoughts by Ishida calling her name. He had a concerned look on his face as he stared intently into hers. "Inoue-san? Are you alright?" She blinked a few times before registered that he was speaking to her. "Ah, yes, Ishida-kun, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Ishida persisted. "It seemed like something was bothering you." Orihime looked at him, not quite sure how to answer; she didn't really know what had happened herself. What she saw reminded her of the dream she had had only the night before. The creature was similar to the Hollow that she had been fighting, and the things that came out of her hairpins looked familiar to what she used to create the shield.

She realized that Ishida was still staring at her, waiting for an answer. "Yup, I'm sure!" she said, trying to sound as happy and bubbly as she could. "I'm sorry to have worried you; I was just…thinking about something." She turned to resume her sewing and noticed a few drops of blood dripping from her finger. "Oops, I must have poked myself with the needle," she said with a sheepish grin."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Inoue-san!" Ishida said, reaching into his schoolbag and pulling out a first-aid kit. "I didn't even notice!" He took out some bandages and began wrapping her finger with them. Orihime just stared. "Um, do you always carry a first-aid kit with you, Ishida-kun?"

Ishida turned slightly red. "Um, well, that is…I like to be prepared in case of an emergency." He focused on wrapping the bandage around her finger, waiting for her to laugh at him; however, she only smiled. "I think that's a very smart thing to do, Ishida-kun! If I ever get hurt again, I'll know where to go!"

Ishida finished bandaging her finger and looked out the window, not wanting Orihime to see his ever-reddening face. _I missed that smile…_he thought, staring out at the clouds. He shot a quick glance at the girl behind him, and saw that she wasn't concentrating on her sewing; she was staring intently at the wall, a faraway look in her eyes. _She must be thinking about whatever she just saw. _Ishida sighed. _I'll have a lot to tell Kurosaki later…_

----------

"Are you _sure _she remembered something?"

On his way home from the Crafts Club, Ishida had stopped at Ichigo's house to report what he had just witnessed. They were currently sitting in Ichigo's room: Ichigo was on his bed while Ishida was sitting on the floor. The Quincy sighed. "For the fifth time, Kurosaki, I'm not sure," he said, adjusting his glasses. "I merely saw her…space out, so to say, for several minutes after I mentioned the names Tsubaki and Baigon. I am only speculating that she could have been remembering something."

"Alright, alright," Ichigo said, flopping onto his back. _Damn, listening to him makes me wanna fall asleep! _Ichigo thought, yawning to prove the idea. He sighed. "Ok, so we're assuming that she remembered something. The only question is, what did she remember? And does that one memory make it easier or harder for her to remember other things?"

"That was two questions."

"Shut up!" Ichigo said, throwing a pillow at him. Ishida was adjusting his glasses again and didn't see it coming; it hit him square in the face. He glared at the orange-haired boy, who was laughing hysterically on his bed. "Very mature, Kurosaki."

"It's your fault for acting like you have a stick up your ass all the time!"

"I do not!"

"Prove it!"

Ishida scowled before throwing the pillow back, hitting Ichigo in the stomach. Ichigo then threw it back, and it turned into an all-out pillow fight, the original reason for their meeting forgotten.

----------

Orihime was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She was deep in thought about the images she had seen in her head, and disturbed by the fact that it seemed to relate so closely to her reoccurring dream. She knew that it was too much to be just a coincidence; something was going on, and she wanted to know what.

There was a knock at her door, startling her out of her thoughts. "Orihime?" her brother called from the other side. "Can I come in?" After getting her confirmation,Sora entered the room. "What's wrong, Orihime? You barely said anything at diner, and then went straight to your room. It's not like you."

Orihime hesitated. "Well, you know that dream I had last night?"Sora nodded. "Well, today, two of the people in it were transferred into my class." Her brother looked surprised. "Really? That's odd. Did they mention anything about it?"

Orihime shook her head. "No, but I overheard them having a conversation at lunch about trying to get some girl to remember something, and how the girl protected them and they just let her die, and it sounded a lot like my dream…"Sora nodded to show that he was following. "Well, I just decided that they were talking about a game or something. After school, Ishida-kun said he wanted to join the Crafts Club, so I led him there and we were getting along really well. Then he said something about naming his stuffed animal either Tsubaki or Baigon, and then this really weird thing happened…" She then went on to describe the 'vision' she'd had. Kakei was trying his best to follow, but was a little confused at parts, such as who 'Ishida-kun' was and why there were stuffed animals.

When she had finished, she waited quietly for her brother's reaction. She half expected him to think she was crazy; after all, any sane person would. Sora, however, didn't think so at all. He reached out and placed both hands on her shoulders, looking her in the eye. "Orihime," he began. "I won't pretend that I know what's going on; however, I do think that those two boys are the key to it. I would suggest that you talk to them about it. But remember, whatever decision you make, I'll be behind you every step of the way."

Orihime thought for a moment. "Yeah, I think you're right," she said. "Tomorrow, I think I'll talk to them about it. The worse thing that could happen is that I look like a total psychopath, right?" They both laughed; then Orihime gave her brother a hug and went to bed.

* * *

Sorry for the short chapter, but it seemed like a good place to leave off. Requests are still open for Shinigami that should make an appearance. So far I have Rukia, and her 'friends' from the Eleventh Division. As always, please review! 

Ja ne!


	4. The Memory II

Konnichiwa, and welcome to chapter four! This is where things start to get interesting as we get a glimpse of who the bad guys are, so to speak. Her brother seems to know more than he lets on, and just who is this other new transfer student that Orihime can't help but notice? Read on to find out!

**Disclaimer:** Oh, how I wish, but I don't own Bleach.

* * *

Sora sighed as he watched his younger sister leave for school. He hated seeing her in such a state of confusion: about her dream, about the strange new transfer students, and about what she had recently remembered. He hated lying to her, but knew that the job of recovering her memories didn't belong to him; no, that was up to Soul Society, and he had strict orders not to interfere. 

Soraknew more about his sister than she knew about herself. Having been a Hollow in his previous life, his memories were not so easily forgotten, and he had remembered everything since before he had started school as a child. After his soul was cleansed and he was no longer a Hollow, he had gone to Soul Society and continued to watch over her. He knew of all her experiences and adventures she'd had since gaining her powers; now, beginning life once again, he couldn't help but be happy that his little sister would have the chance at the ordinary life she had missed.

That all changed when he got a surprise visit from Soul Society. In the middle of the night, a small, white-haired Shinigami had come, introducing himself as Hitsugaya Toushirou, the captain of the Tenth Division of the Gotei 13.Sora was surprised, to say the least, but invited the Death God into his home nonetheless.

"It's about Orihime," Hitsugaya began, taking a small sip of tea. "I'm sure you've noticed that, while you have retained all your memories of your past life, she remembers nothing." Sorai nodded. "Now, for most humans, this wouldn't be a problem; most people don't remember anything at all. However, we have reason to believe that someone is plotting something and has erased her memories on purpose. We have gathered information on her former friends, Kurosaki Ichigo, Ishida Uryuu, and Yasutora Sado, and all of them seem to remember everything. What's more, from what we can tell, Orihime no longer has access to her powers; at least, not at the moment. That may change in the future, but we aren't sure."

"So, you're saying that someone might be after my sister?"Sora said, worry creeping into his voice. Hitsugaya nodded. "We're not sure, but that's most likely the case. After closer observation, we found a containment seal had been placed on her to keep her memories hidden."

"But she does remember something,"Sora interrupted. "She's been complaining of a strange dream involving her friends, the Hollows, and such." He lowered his voice. "I'm pretty sure that she's seeing her death in her dreams."

Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow. "Well, that's something the research department didn't predict." He took another sip of tea. "Either the seal isn't as strong as we originally thought, or her soul is stronger and is trying to break free of its own will. In any case," he stood, placing his cup on the table in front of him, "I'm here to tell you that you aren't to become involved in her memory recovery." BeforeSora could protest, the small captain continued. "Until we have more information on what's going on, we wish to keep things the way they are and see if she can remember anything else on her own. In time, when we have researched the situation and have a grasp on the predicament, we will send someone to help with the memory retrieval. So, until then, we would appreciate it if you would keep all this a secret and leave the situation alone. We don't want to bring up any painful memories unless we have to." He lookedSora in the eye, and the older sibling understood. Remembering her premature death was sure to cause Orihime pain, and he would rather die than see that happen.

And so, Hitsugaya had left. That had been ten years ago, and it seemed that Soul Society had decided to take action at last. It had been hard for Sora to listen to his sister while she told him about what she had seen in her head without telling her everything. He also wasn't entirely confident with who Soul Society had decided to send. Still, he had decided long ago that he would trust whatever they decided to do, and would continue to just look after his little sister.

He sighed again. It would be a long day.

----------

Orihime walked nervously to school, thinking about her conversation with her brother the night before. She had decided to talk to her new classmates about her weird dream and what they had to do with it, but that was much easier said than done. Now that she was close to actually doing it, she was having second and even third thoughts about it.

She was so deep in thought that she didn't realize that she was walking slower than usual; right as she reached the gate, the first bell rang, telling her she had five minutes to get to class. She gasped and ran into the building, sitting in her seat just before the second bell rang. On each side of her, Ishida and Ichigo were looking at her strangely, and Orihime could only manage a meek smile. Inside, she was grateful that she was almost late; now, she could put off the inevitable conversation until lunchtime.

She sighed and began taking out various notebooks and textbooks from her bag; she was interrupted by her teacher, though, who had just walked in. "Good morning, class," she said. "It seems that we have a lot of transfer students these days. I would like to introduce you to Kuchiki Rukia-san, who will be joining our class for the rest of the school year." She gestured towards the door, where a black-haired girl walked in and smiled.

"Good morning, everyone!" she said brightly, bowing slightly. "I'm very happy to make your acquaintance! I just came back from a long vacation in America, and hope to make many new friends here!" The teacher smiled. _At last, someone normal,_ she thought, directing Rukia to a seat in the back of the room.

Orihime, though she had never seen the girl before, couldn't help but feel as though she knew her from somewhere; it was the same feeling she got when she was with Tatsuki, or the two new boys next to her. _I'm tired of this!_ She thought, resting her head on her desk. _I want to know what's going on with me! Who are all these people, and why does it seem like I know them?_ As if to answer her thoughts, Orihime felt the same sensation as she did the day before during her Crafts Club. Her eyes clouded over, and she was lost within her own mind.

_Orihime was lying on the floor of her apartment, a strange chain flowing from a hole in her chest. Looking up, she saw another of the creatures – the word 'Hollow' came to mind – towering over her. Tatsuki lay opposite her, the Hollow's large claws forcing her deeper into the carpet. _

Am I dead? _Orihime wondered; she was confused; looking over, she saw her body lying a few feet away from her. _I feel dizzy…A chain? I'm chained up?_ She began pulling on the chain. _I can't…breathe…I don't like this…_ A quick glance showed that Tatsuki was now being strangled by the strange beast._

"_Tatsuki!" she yelled, worried about her friend. _I have to save Tatsuki!_ She thought as she ran towards the monster, slamming her body into it and pushing it away. "Tatsuki! You ok? Run for it!" She got no answer, only the sound of her friend gasping for air. "Tatsuki? What's wrong? Say something!"_

"_It's no use, Orihime. She can't hear us. She can't see us, either." Orihime stared at the creature as it spoke. "How…do you know my name?"_

"_Have you…forgotten my voice? That wounds me, Orihime!" It said, lashing out with its hand. Orihime closed her eyes, waiting for impact…but it never came. She hesitantly opened them to find Ichigo standing in front of her, holding a sword and blocking the thing's blow. "…You think you can stop me?"_

"_Sorry, Captain Overbite, but that _is_ a Soul Reaper's job!" Ichigo said. "If you want Orihime for dinner, then I'm your first course!" He seemed to think for a moment before his eyes landed on Orihime – or rather, her body. "I knew it!" Orihime said, causing him to turn his gaze to her. "It's you, Kurosaki-kun!"_

"_How…can you see me?" Ichigo wondered, a look of confusion on his face. "Isn't it obvious?" The Hollow asked, coming up directly behind him. "She's a spirit! I'm sorry, but Orihime is already dead!" He lashed out again, this time with his tail, and knocked Ichigo out of the house; the orange-haired boy landed swiftly on a neighboring rooftop. Blood splattered from his head as the hand holding his sword was sprayed with acid, causing him to drop it. Ichigo was then knocked to the ground as he was holding his injured hand. "Ichigo!" Rukia, who had just entered the battleground, yelled, rushing over to him._

"_Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime yelled, standing up to rush to her friend; she was stopped by the creature, however, who had his large hand wrapped around her. "Let me go! Let me go! Kurosaki-kun's…" she trailed off as she began biting the hand that held her, desperate to get free. "Orihime…" the Hollow said softly, causing her to look at him. "Have you…really forgotten me? It's me, Orihime!"_

"_S-Sora?"_

"Inoue-san!" The teacher's sharp voice brought Orihime back to reality. Her sensei had a worried look on her face. "Inoue-san, are you alright? You don't seem well today. Would you like to go to the nurse and lie down for a bit?"

Orihime, aware of all the stares she was receiving, nodded. "I-I'd very much like that, Sensei," she muttered, gathering up her belongings. She didn't exactly feel sick; she just wanted to think about everything that had been going on lately. Had she been paying attention, she would have noticed the secret look the three newcomers shared as she left the room.

---------

"It seems as though things are going faster than we had anticipated."

In a dark room sat three people; two men and one woman. They each wore a similar dark outfit with a matching black cloak swirling around them. The woman had deep blue eyes and brown hair, which was kept in a long ponytail. Both men had identical black eyes, but had different hair; the first had short black hair while the other had shoulder-length bluish-black hair. There were many large screens in front of them, each depicting various images.

"She's remembering things left and right," the black-haired man continued. "It seems as though Soul Society had decided to get involved and has sent two people to help with the process."

"Actually, Hiroshi-sama," the woman said hesitantly, "recently, it seems as though another Shinigami has been sent to help as well. It seems as though she was partially responsible for the recent memory that the subject recovered."

"I see," The man, Hiroshi, said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully; it was obvious that he was the leader of the three. "Well, two can play at that game. Rai!" He turned to the other man next to him. "You will go to the Living World and get close to the subject. Yuri, you will stay here with me and continue to observe from afar."

"Yes, Hiroshi-sama," Rai said, immediately transporting himself from the room. Yuri bent down and began typing furiously at one of the many keyboards below the screens. One began to flash, and showed Orihime's school. After some more typing, it appeared as though she had hacked into the school database and was now adding the name 'Rai' to the list of new transfer students. Hiroshi smiled.

"Well, my dear Orihime, it looks as thought you have yet another new classmate."

----------

Orihime sighed and closed her eyes. She was in the nurse's office, lying on a bed with clean, white sheets. The nurse, knowing how energetic the girl usually was, immediately sent her to bed after taking her temperature, saying she didn't have a fever but should lie down for awhile to rest. Orihime was so confused that she just did as she was told, snuggling deep under the blankets while trying to clear her mind.

It didn't work. She couldn't stop thinking about the strange vision she'd had.

The monster – no, the Hollow, she remembered – had been her brother. There was no mistaking the voice, and the her in the vision had said it herself. Of all the strange things that had been happening lately, this was the weirdest. Even the new kid, Ichigo, was there, and was _fighting_ the Hollow. And the chain connecting her and her body…Had she died? The Hollow had said she was a spirit, after all.

Orihime rolled onto her stomach and buried her face in the pillow, all thoughts of confronting her new classmates gone from her mind. She was almost afraid to after what she had seen in her mind. She was scared of the answers she might get if she asked them about it. Then she remembered that she saw Rukia in it as well; she was a new face to the visions, as she hadn't seen her at all until that day. There was a reoccurring person to them though: Tatsuki.

Tatsuki had not only been in this new vision, but in the one she had seen the day before as well. _Maybe I can talk to Tatsuki-chan instead, _she thought. Feeling slightly better, she closed her eyes and leaned into the pillow. Soon she was fast asleep.

* * *

Ah, yes, the plot beings to unravel. I would like to thank Rukia and Hitsugaya for making an appearance. Both of them will be in the story a lot more, so keep an eye out for them! Anyway, I know this chapter wasn't that long, but I'm going to spend the day in California tomorrow, so I wanted to get it out. And thanks to Bleach: Volume One of the manga for helping me with the memory. As always, please review; they make me so happy! 


	5. The Setback

Hello, everyone! It's been awhile, ne? Anyway, here's chapter five. Since this obviously takes place after the whole Aizen thing, there will most likely be manga spoilers somewhere along the way.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Bleach, and never will.

* * *

"Hey, how long do you think she's going to asleep?" Ichigo wondered, looking over at the bed in which Orihime slept. After class, both he and Ishida had rushed to the Nurse's office to see if they could talk to their classmate, but had found her fast asleep. Rukia had wanted to come as well, but they all agreed that it would be best if she went straight to Urahara Shouten, where they were all staying.

"Who knows?" Ishida replied, pushing his glasses up his nose. "You remember what Hitsugaya-san said, don't you? It seems that she's been dreaming of…what happened for many years now. I doubt that she gets much sleep when she does."

"So, do you think she remembered something today?" Ichigo asked, placing his hands behind his head and leaning against the wall. "I mean, she acted pretty much how you described yesterday."

"It seems very likely," Ishida said, sitting down on a nearby chair. "It seems very possible that Kuchiki-san could have triggered something, seeing as how they were good friends. Not to mention they trained in Soul Society together for a month to prepare for the Arrancar attack."

"Is an Arrancar a type of Hollow?"

The two froze, slowly turning their gaze to the bed. There lay Orihime, in the same position as before, except for one thing: her eyes were open, and were staring intently at her visitors. No one knew what to say, but they couldn't ignore the question, either. Finally, Ichigo spoke. "How much of that did you hear?"

Orihime thought a moment. "Since you asked how long I was going to be asleep."

Ichigo slapped his hand to his forehead. "Damn it, you weren't supposed to hear any of that yet!" He stopped as he realized something. "Wait, how do you know about Hollows?"

"Well, I don't really know what they are," Orihime said, sitting up in her bed. "I just know that they all have these weird white masks. I saw this weird vision of you fighting one, Kurosaki-kun. Only…it was my brother…and Kuchiki-san was there too…"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "Is that what you saw in class?" She nodded. "Alright…what else have you seen?" Orihime hesitated before answering, then remembered that she had been planning to talk to them about it anyway. She described the vision she'd had the day before, and the weird power she suddenly had. She didn't mention her reoccurring dream, however; judging from what she'd heard, they already seemed to know about it. When she was done, Ichigo turned to look at Ishida.

"Well, at least it's something," he said, sighing slightly. He looked back at the confused girl. "I know you're wondering about what's going on, Inoue; but we can't tell you yet. It could cause too many problems. Still, do you think you could tell us when you see something like that again? The more you see, the sooner we'll be able to tell you everything."

Orihime didn't look convinced. "Can you at least tell me what all these things are?" she asked. "I mean, they seem so real…"

Ishida spoke up for the first time since Orihime had talked. "I wish we could tell you, Inoue-san, but it would only put you in danger if we did. Please trust us on this."

Orihime, though still not fully convinced, nodded slightly. "I guess I don't really have a choice, do I?" she said, smiling slightly. "Can I ask one more question, though? Does Kuchiki-san have something to do with this too?" Ichigo and Ishida exchanged quick glances before nodding. Orihime then stood to leave, giving them another quick smile before walking out the door, leaving the two alone.

"This can't be good," Ichigo said, sighing as he sat down on the empty bed. "Soul Society warned us not to let her know anything about it, in case They found out about it. But I guess it can't be helped. I'll have to go and report this to Hitsugaya-taichou." He sighed again. "Damn, it's going to be hell tonight…"

----------

"Hey, Tatsuki-chan…"

"Orihime? What's wrong?" Tatsuki asked into the receiver, adjusting the phone's position on her shoulder. "It's not like you to call so late." She heard the girl sigh. "I'm sorry, Tatsuki-chan, but I have a question." When she was quiet, the black-haired girl encouraged her to go on. "It's about Kurosaki-kun and Ishida-kun…"

"You mean the new guys?"

Orihime nodded, then remembered that she was on the phone and her friend couldn't see her. "Yeah. I was just wondering…if you feel like you've met them before or anything…"

Tatsuki thought for a moment. "Now that you mention it, they did seem kind of familiar; but I can't imagine where I might have met them before." Orihime was slightly disappointed. Since Tatsuki had appeared in more than one of her visions, she had hoped that maybe she knew something, and was hoping to pry her for information. "Why do you ask? Do they seem familiar to you, too?"

"Yeah, something like that," Orihime said, remembering that she was still on the phone. "Sorry to have bothered you so late, Tatsuki-chan. Good night." She hung up the phone and stared blankly out the window. She hadn't told her brother about what had happened at school; she didn't want to worry him about it. When asked about what they had said when she told them about her visions, she had just smiled and said they didn't know anything. She hated keeping secrets from him, but how was she supposed to explain something that she knew nothing about?

She leaned her head against the window, enjoying the coolness of the glass against her skin. She replayed the conversation she'd had earlier in her head for about the hundredth time that day, looking for any clues that may have been hidden in the boys' words. As before, she found none; the only thing that could possible serve as a hint to what was going on was the word 'Arrancar', which she knew was a kind of Hollow. Aside from that, she knew nothing, and needless to say was not satisfied with that.

Orihime had decided to investigate the situation by herself. The first step had been calling Tatsuki to see if she knew anything, which had failed miserably. She had considered asking the new girl about it, but had instantly discarded the thought; if Rukia was involved with Ichigo and Ishida, then Orihime doubted she would say anything. So far, her investigating plan wasn't going very well.

She stretched as she stood, leaving her seat by the window. _Soul Society…it's somewhere up there, isn't it?_ She thought as she took one last look at the night sky before retreating to her bed. _I wonder if I'll get to see it someday…_

----------

"You WHAT?" Hitsugaya Toushirou yelled, standing up from his desk, which was piled high with paperwork. Matsumoto winced slightly, sending Ichigo a sympathetic look from her place on the couch. After Ichigo had died, he had become a full-fledged Shinigami and joined the Tenth Division as a Third Seat. He could have easily become a captain, but by the time he arrived all the empty seats left by Aizen and his crew had already been filled, and he had no desire to kill one of them just so he could get the title. The result was being a Third Seat Shinigami with a Bankai and more powers than half of the captains in the Gotei 13, which was interesting to say the least.

He stood in front of his angry captain, having just told them about Orihime overhearing their conversation. Hitsugaya quickly regained his composure after his sudden outburst, coughing lightly into his hand as the temperature in the room dropped greatly. "And why, may I ask, were you talking about this in front of her when I specifically told you to make sure she knew _nothing_ about all this?"

"We, um, thought she was asleep…" Ichigo muttered, staring at the floor and avoiding his captain's eyes; he could still feel them drilling holes in his head, and wondered if he would be a Shinigami popsicle by the time they were done.

Hitsugaya sighed, sitting back down in his chair, his elbows rested on the desk. "Well, I suppose there's nothing we can do at this point. We could erase her memory, but we can't risk erasing her newfound memories as well…"

"Can't we just tell her everything?" Ichigo asked, slowly raising his eyes from the tiled floor. "It would probably speed things up a whole lot."

"You know why we can't do that, Kurosaki," Hitsugaya replied. "I'm sure They're already onto us; we can't risk them figuring out everything. We still don't know what they want with her, and we can't put her in any more danger than she already is. If we tell her everything that's going on, there's no telling what she'd do if she didn't fully trust you; she could end up telling someone that shouldn't know anything. The Living World has a very delicate balance, and we can't upset it more than the Hollows already do."

"Yeah, yeah," Ichigo grumbled, having heard all this before. "So what should we do?"

"Act like nothing happened," Hitsugaya said. "You said that you already got her to remember a few things, right? Keep doing whatever you were doing, and try not to act suspicious. Try to hurry, though; we don't know how much time we have."

----------

"My, we sure are getting a lot of transfer students recently, aren't we?"

Orihime sat in class, staring at nothing in particular. She wasn't entirely surprised at her teacher's announcement; after the incident the day before, she was almost expecting another one of Ichigo and Ishida's friends to come. Glancing at the two beside her, however, she wondered if this was true. Both of them had a strange expression of surprise on their face, as if they weren't expecting the person standing at the front of the classroom.

"Hello," the boy said, bowing slightly. "My name is Rai. I just moved here from America. Pleased to meet you all." Orihime took in his appearance as he headed towards a seat in the back near Rukia. He had bluish-black hair that went down to his shoulders, and jet black eyes. As he walked past, Rai paused for a moment and smiled at her before continuing.

At lunch, Orihime found herself standing on the rooftop; the same spot that she had first overheard a conversation and had dismissed it as something about a video game. She sighed as she leaned her elbows on the railing, leaning over slightly to look at the ground below. Some students were sitting on the grass eating lunch, while others just seemed to be enjoying the fresh air.

"What are you doing up here, Inoue-san?"

Orihime jumped as she heard someone approach her, turning around quickly to see her visitor; it was Rai. She tensed a little as he walked towards her, though she wasn't sure why; it was most likely because of all the strange things going on lately. "Now, now, no need to be alarmed," Rai said, noticing that she seemed nervous. "I merely came to enjoy the lovely weather. Is this not, after all, the perfect place to do so, with the wind blowing freely through your hair?"

"Um, y-yes," Orihime said, slightly surprised at how polite he was. He surprised her even more by reaching over and tucking a stray hair behind her ear, causing her to blush slightly. "Pardon me, Inoue-san, but you are very beautiful." He then leaned over and placed a small kiss on her cheek.

* * *

I'm really sorry this chapter took so long, but I hope it was worth the wait! Don't forget to review; it makes me really happy and encourages me to write faster!


	6. The Incident

Konnichiwa! I got asked a very interesting question in a review last chapter: are you guys voting on the final pairing? The answer to this is no. I already have the ultimate pairing in mind, though there will be fluffy moments between both Ichigo and Ishida; don't worry. Although I suppose at the moment it's more IchigoxOrihimexIshidaxOC, huh? It seems that some of you have already figured out that – wait, that would spoil the surprise, wouldn't it? Anyway, enough of my rambling. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I think you know that I don't own Bleach by now.

* * *

Orihime instinctively placed a hand on her cheek as Rai drew away from his kiss, her face tinted bright red. "I'm not…I don't know…" she began, but Rai reached over and placed a finger on her lips. "Shh. You don't have to say anything. I know what I did was extremely rude, but I just couldn't help myself." He appeared about to say more, but was interrupted by the school bell. "Ah, it appears our conversation will have to be cut short. See you in class, Princess." With that, he walked back into the building, leaving Orihime alone on the rooftop.

"What just happened?" she wondered aloud to herself as she began to slowly walk back to class. "He acted so much…differently than Kurosaki-kun and Ishida-kun. Did he really come here with them? He doesn't seem familiar like they do, though…" She stopped, noticing that people were staring at her, and realized that she had been talking to herself. She smiled sheepishly and was quiet the rest of the way to her classroom.

"Are you alright, Inoue?" Ichigo asked as she sat in her seat, looking at her intently. "Your face is all red. Are you sick or something?" This only caused Orihime to turn even redder as she shook her head. "N-no, I'm fine," she said, smiling. "Sorry to have worried you, Kurosaki-kun."

Both Ichigo and Ishida turned to look at Rai, who was sitting the back of the classroom next to Rukia. The boy appeared to be trying to talk to her, but she had her nose in a book and was ignoring him. Ichigo and Ishida exchanged a quick look, each knowing that something wasn't quite right.

"Hey, Inoue…" Orihime turned to look at Ichigo. "That new guy…did he…do anything to you?" Orihime instantly turned red at the thought and shook her head vigorously. ""N-no! W-we were just talking at lunch. Yeah, just talking. W-why do you ask?" It was Ichigo's turn to shake his head. "No reason, really."

"Hey, Orihime!" Orihime turned to see Tatsuki standing by her desk. "Are we still on for the beach tomorrow?" The red-headed girl nodded enthusiastically, her earlier embarrassment forgotten. "Of course!" She turned to look at the two boys on either side of her. "Would you like to come, Kurosaki-kun, Ishida-kun?"

"To the…beach?" Ishida said, pushing his glasses up his nose. Even though it was only April, the weather had been unseasonably warm, so a trip to the beach didn't seem that out of the ordinary. What really surprised the two was the fact that they were invited in the first place. Orihime nodded. "Yup! After all, the more the merrier, right?" She placed a finger on her chin thoughtfully. "Hey, should we invite Kuchiki-san, too?"

Tatsuki blinked. "What's this sudden interest in inviting the new people, Orihime?" she asked, confused. "They'll probably just go to see you in a bikini. Are you gonna ask that other new guy to come, too?" Orihime thought a moment, then shook her head. "No, I don't think so. But I just feel like inviting Kurosaki-kun, Ishida-kun and Kuchiki-san for some reason…is that alright?" Tatsuki shrugged. "Fine with me." She turned her gaze to Ishida and Ichigo. "So? You guys comin' or what?" Both of them nodded. "Good. Yo, Kuchiki!" At the back of the room, Rukia looked up. "Wanna come to the beach with us tomorrow?"

Rukia put her book down on her desk and hurried over, leaving behind a perplexed Rai. "Did I hear right? You want _me_ to go to the beach with you tomorrow?" Orihime nodded. "Oh, I am so flattered!" Rukia cried, placing both hands on her cheeks. "To think that I'd be asked to go with you when this is only my second day here!"

_She is so fake,_ Ichigo thought, turning away to look out the window. _Still, something bugs me about that Rai kid. I'll have to ask the brat about him the next time I go back to Soul Society._ Even now, Ichigo refused to refer to Hitsugaya as his captain unless he was actually talking to him in person.

"Alright then, it's settled!" Orihime said happily, clapping her hands together. "We'll all meet at the beach tomorrow at 2:00!"

In the back of the room, Rai narrowed his eyes.

----------

"Hiroshi-sama, it seems that the Soul Society brats are suspicious."

A man with short black hair turned to face his visitor, their eyes the same pitch black color. "Ah, I see. I suppose it's not really that much of a surprise. Still, we have to do something to gain their trust – and hers as well, of course."

"Yes, well, she is planning on going to the beach with her friends tomorrow, the ones from Soul Society among them. I have a plan that will most likely get them to fully trust me."

"Very well," Hiroshi said, narrowing his eyes slightly. "You had better not fail me."

----------

"Ah, it's so pretty!" Orihime cried, gazing out at the ocean, her hair blowing behind her in the slight breeze. She reached a hand up and placed it on the sunhat she wore on her head, a large smile plastered on her face. She turned to look at her friends, who were trailing behind her: Tatsuki in the lead, followed by Ishida, Rukia, and finally Ichigo, who was complaining about the heat.

Orihime wore a tight-fit yellow bikini, a small matching see-through jacket draped over it. Tatsuki, on the other hand, being the tomboy that she was, was wearing a dark blue one-piece. Ishida wore swim trunks of a similar color, while Ichigo's were orange to match his hair. Rukia was also in a one-piece, though hers was pink.

The five got to work setting up their towels and umbrellas on the sand. Just as they were about to go in the water, they heard a familiar voice behind them.

"My, what an odd coincidence running into you here!" Rai said, smiling brightly. His swim trunks were pitch black like his eyes, and he wore matching sandals. "I didn't know you all were coming here today."

"Oh, bullshit," Ichigo mumbled, crossing his arms across his chest. "Tatsuki yelled it clear across the classroom yesterday; anyone could have heard it." Rai just scratched his head. "Really, now? I must not have been paying attention." He turned to look at Orihime. "I must say, Inoue-san, you look especially beautiful today."

"Hey, back off," Tatsuki said, stepping protectively in front of her friend. "You just came here yesterday; don't you dare start hitting on her, got it?" This caused Rai to chuckle nervously. "My apologies, Arisawa-san," he said. "Though I might add that you look lovely as well." This got him a fist in the head. "Shut up!"

"T-Tatsuki-chan…" Orihime said nervously, grabbing her friend's arm. "Let's go in the water now, ok?" With one last glare at Rai, who now wore a large bump on his head, Tatsuki followed, with Rukia behind her. "Kurosaki-kun! Ishida-kun! Come on!"

"We'll be there in a sec, Inoue!" Ichigo called before focusing on the boy in front of him. "Listen, kid. I don't know who the hell you are, but like Tatsuki said, stay away from Inoue. If I find out you did _anything_ to her, you're gonna have to answer to me. Understand?"

"And me as well," Ishida said, stepping up beside him while adjusting his glasses. He may not have looked very intimidating, but he was much stronger than he looked. He sent the boy a quick glare before walking away with Ichigo. Though neither would admit it, they were both very protective of Orihime, though it would seem odd to any ordinary person, seeing as how the two just transferred to Karakura a few days before.

When they arrived in the water, their friends were passing around a beach ball, saying the first person who missed had to be dunked under the water. All of them were dry from the waist up, showing that no one wanted to be the first to dip into the icy water. The two joined in, and not long after Ishida dropped the ball. Wearing a huge grin, Ichigo went over, placed his hands on the Quincy's shoulders, and shoved him under the water.

Ishida came up sputtering. "Kurosaki…" he growled angrily, instinctively reaching up to adjust his glasses even though he had left them with their belongings. This made Ichigo mistake the action as Ishida flipping him off, and was instantly dunked again while the orange-haired Shinigami yelled, "How dare you flip me off, you bastard!" Tatsuki burst out laughing and waded closer to watch, while Rukia wondered what 'flipping off' was.

Things proceeded smoothly until they were all completely wet, their hair sticking to their faces. They were all laughing at this point, still passing the ball and cracking up when is hit Ichigo in the face, which happened quite often. Ichigo just grumbled something about having lousy hand-eye coordination before laughing it off, having too much fun to care.

Just as Orihime was about to catch the ball, the wind picked up, blowing it off course so it flew over her head. "Ah! Come back!" she called, chasing after it. She waded deeper into the water until she couldn't touch anymore, then began swimming; she was a good swimmer, since her brother taught her how when she was young. The ball continued to float further away until the wind died down, and she was close enough to catch it.

Suddenly, as she reached out her arm to grab the ball, she felt a strange sensation throughout her body, and she couldn't move her body. Unable to stay afloat, she slowly sunk beneath the waves, her limbs frozen in place. _What is this? My body…won't move…_ Her eyes glanced frantically around, seeing only blue as she sunk deeper into the ocean's depths.

Then, in her mind, she saw an image of a large man dressed in black coming towards her with a giant ax; the next thing she knew, she was in Ishida's arms and out of harms way. _Where did that…come from…?_ She wondered as her eyes began to close, and she felt herself start to lose consciousness. The last thing she remembered was someone grabbing her around the waist, and feeling the spell that was upon her being lifted.

----------

"Orihime!"

"Inoue!"

"Inoue-san!"

Orihime slowly opened her eyes to find herself lying on her back, four worried faces hovering over her. "What…?" she started, struggling to sit up; she felt Tatsuki grab her shoulders protectively to keep her from falling over. Her eyes darted to those surrounding her to find not only her friends, but Rai as well. "What…happened?"

"You tell us!" Ichigo said, breathing a small sigh of relief. "You went to get the ball, and suddenly we couldn't see you anymore!" He gestured to Rai, who was sitting a little further back from the group. "As much as I hate to admit it, somehow this guy managed to get to you before we did." Orihime turned to focus on him. "Rai-san, thank you," she said, giving him a small smile.

"So what happened, Inoue-san?" Ishida asked, looking at her intently. Orihime looked down at the sand. "I-I don't know," she said in a soft voice. "It was like…all of a sudden, I couldn't move my body. I don't know why…" her voice trailed off as she felt herself lean back into Tatsuki, who was sitting behind her to support her. "I'm tired…"

"Don't worry, we'll get you home right away," Tatsuki said soothingly, helping her friend to stand up. She gently flung Orihime's arm across her shoulders and began to help her home. "I'll take care of it," she snapped when Ishida and Ichigo tried to follow. "She's tired, and she doesn't need a bunch of people fussing about her, got it?" With that, the two began to walk away from the ocean and towards Orihime's house.

"Yo," Ichigo said once they were gone, turning to Rai. "Thanks for saving Inoue," he continued, glaring as he did so. "But there's something weird about you that I still don't like, and I intend to find out what it is." Rai shifted his weight from one foot to the other nervously. "I don't know what you are talking about, Kurosaki-san. But I do know that I do not want to do anything to harm Inoue-san, as you seem to think. I do hope that you will trust me one day, and perhaps we can be friends." He gave them a small smile. "Now, if you will excuse me, I believe that it is time I leave." He gave a small bow before walking away, leaving Ichigo, Ishida, and Rukia behind.

"That was strange," Ishida said, turning to look at Ichigo. "I agree that there is something odd about him, but you would think that he wouldn't go through the trouble of saving Inoue-san if he intended to do her harm." Ichigo scowled, though he had been thinking the same thing.

"But there's something weird about this incident," Rukia said, her finger placed thoughtfully on her chin. "Orihime said that she couldn't move her body, right? Well, right before she went under, I felt someone use a kidou spell." Their eyes widened as she continued. "Judging by what she said, I'll bet that it was some kind of binding spell. The only question is: who cast it?"

* * *

**Author's notes:**

I'm really not sure how Orihime would address Rai, considering that he doesn't have a last name, or at least that anyone knows of; even the teacher doesn't know. So I called him Rai-san, because he doesn't have a last name for her to call him 'last name-kun' or something. Also, on a different note, I've gone back and changed her brother's name to Sora, since I found out that's his name in the Japanese version and was changed to Kakei in the English manga. Sorry for the confusion.

* * *

Well, she finally remembered something about Ishida! Looking back, I realized that she's had mostly memories of Ichigo and Tatsuki and not him. Why did she remember the fight with Jirōbō? I have no idea, but it seemed like a good Ishida memory. And I really don't think there's an ocean near Karakura, but there is now. Anyway, I'm sorry for the late update; I really have no excuse. I still hope that you review, though!

Ja ne!


	7. The Decision

Ok, you all have permission to kill me. It's been, what, six months since I last updated? I'm so sorry! It's just that, for some reason, I just lost inspiration to continue for awhile. But I'm back, and hopefully I'll update a lot more! Thanks so much for all the positive feedback, even though I don't deserve it.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach.

* * *

Orihime flopped down on her bed, burying her face in her pillow. She had begged Tatsuki not to tell Sora about what happened, and her brother was sitting downstairs cooking dinner, blissfully unaware of the fact that his sister had just had a brush with death. Orihime shuddered, still terrified of what she had experienced. She couldn't forget the feeling of sinking into the ocean, unable to do anything.

Though she would never tell anyone, she was fed up with everything. It seemed as if everyone knew what was going on except her. Why was she having strange 'visions' of things that she knew couldn't have actually happened? Why did she seem to know the students that just transferred to her school? What exactly was going on? Orihime could feel tears of frustration and anger welling up in her eyes as she asked herself questions that she had no answers to.

"Orihime?"

Orihime's head jerked up as she heard a knock on her door. Hastily wiping the unshed tears from her eyes, she got up and opened the door for her brother. "There's someone here to see you," Sora said. "You were acting a bit strange when you came home today, so I wanted to make sure you were feeling alright before I showed him in. He said his name was Rai."

_Rai-san? What's he doing here?_ Orihime wondered as she went downstairs. Rai was sitting on the couch, but stood up when he saw Orihime. "Ah, Inoue-san! Are you feeling better? I was a bit worried so I came to see you."

Sora eyed them strangely. "And just why were you worried, may I ask…?"

Orihime looked at Rai, silently pleading him not to say anything. "I just wasn't feeling well earlier," she said quickly. "Rai-san just transferred here, and we met up at the beach. He was probably wondering why I left so suddenly. Right?" She turned to him and smiled, urging him to agree.

"Ah, yes," Rai said, catching on. "She's usually so energetic in class, so I was worried when she said she wasn't feeling well. But if you're better now, Inoue-san, would you mind if I took you out for ice cream?"

"Eh?" The question took Orihime by surprise. "Ice cream?"

Rai smiled. "That is, of course, if your brother is alright with it. Seeing as it is a school night, I will have her back before nine o'clock, if that's a reasonable time." Seeing no reason to refuse, Sora agreed, and watched as the two left.

For reasons unknown to him, Sora was a bit wary of Rai. There didn't seem to be any reason to dislike him: he was polite, and seemed to be genuinely concerned about Orihime's well-being; still, something was bugging him. Orihime had said that Rai was a new student, but he knew for a fact that he wasn't sent from Soul Society: they were only sending those that had been related to Orihime in her past, and he had never seen the boy before.

_I'm probably just looking too much into it,_ Sora thought, sighing as he leaned back into the sofa. _He's probably just an ordinary transfer student that happened to come at the same time as Ichigo and the others. _He kept telling himself this as he waited for his sister's return.

----------

"Thank you for not saying anything to my brother," Orihime said as she dipped her spoon into her ice cream and lifted it to her mouth. The combination of mint chocolate chip, sherbet, and rocky road made Rai gag when he ordered it for her, but she seemed to be enjoying it. He took a small bite out of his own strawberry ice cream.

"It's no problem, but why didn't you tell him?

"I didn't want him to worry," Orihime replied, flinching when a drop of ice cream slipped off her spoon and landed in her lap. "Ah! It's cold!" she cried, grabbing a napkin and wiping it off her skirt. Rai couldn't help but laugh at her clumsiness. "Perhaps we should have gotten something less messy," he said between giggles.

"It's the ice cream's fault!" Orihime protested. "I bet it was tampered with by the aliens to make super deluxe jumping ice cream!" This only made her companion laugh harder, mostly because he wasn't sure if she was kidding or not.

They finished the rest of their ice cream ("I didn't spill any more!") and left the shop. Night had fallen, and a small breeze was blowing, making the air quite chilly despite how warm it had been earlier. Orihime shivered slightly when the cool air hit her bare arms, silently wishing she had brought a sweater with her.

Almost as if he could read her thoughts, Rai took off his own thin jacket and placed it over her shoulders. "It's not much, but it should keep you warm until we get you home," he said.

"But what about you?" Orihime asked, tightly clutching the jacket to keep it from flying off her shoulders in the wind. Rai only smiled at her concern. "As you can see, the shirt I'm wearing is long-sleeved, so I'll be fine."

"If you're sure…" Orihime said with a small smile. "You're so nice to me, Rai-san, even though we just met. I'm glad we could become friends!"

Rai stopped. "Friends…?"

"Of course!" Orihime said, a large smile plastered on her face. "Oh! That reminds me! I never properly thanked you for saving me earlier!" She stopped and turned to face Rai, bending down slightly since she was taller than him. Thinking nothing of it, she gently placed a small kiss on his forehead. "Since I don't have anything on me, will that do for now?" Dazed, Rai nodded, and the two walked in silence until they reached Orihime's house.

----------

"So, Rukia, are you absolutely sure you felt a kidou spell being used?"

Ichigo, Rukia and Ishida sat in an empty room at Urahara Shouten, discussing the day's earlier events. It was Ichigo who had spoken, referring to Rukia's earlier comment on how she had felt someone use a kidou spell right before the incident.

Rukia nodded. "I'm positive, though it had a slightly different aura than that of a Shinigami's kidou. The only thing I can think of is that someone cast the spell – most likely a binding one – that caused Orihime to lose control of her body. I want to say that it was Them who cast the spell, but we know for a fact that they don't want Orihime dead; at least not yet."

"But maybe the spell wasn't intended to kill her," Ishida said, instantly getting the others' attention. "Perhaps it was only meant as a warning to us to stay out of their way; to show us what they're capable of."

"If that's the case, then where does that Rai kid fit into all this?" Ichigo asked.

None of them could think of an answer.

----------

_It's weird. I know why I'm here, but…I'm starting to wonder if what I'm doing is right. I don't want to be the one that erases the smile from her face._

_I don't understand anything anymore._

----------

_Orhime was crying._

_In front of her lied an injured Shinigami; three others around her were dead. She could vaguely hear someone talking about making her his research subject because he was intrigued by the shield she had managed to put up just in time._

_But not in time to save everyone._

_She looked up when she felt Ishida's reiatsu, and saw him pointing his bow at someone. "Hmm…so he's a Quincy," the man was saying. "It's been years since I last saw one. But…I'm sorry. I've already completed my research on your kind. I'm not interested in Quincies anymore. Now step aside."_

"'_Completed your research'? 'Not interested'?" Ishida's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean? Who are you?"_

"_Hmm?" The man questioned. "Do ryoka charge into enemy territory without studying the enemy first? How foolish. I think you would at least know the top thirteen Shinigami!" He released a large blast of reiatsu, and Ishida was surprised at how strong it was. "I am captain of Twelfth Company and chief of Research and Development, Kurotsuchi Mayuri. But you can forget that; because in a moment, you won't know anything."_

_The next thing Orihime knew, Ishida was yelling at her to run. "But…No! I want to fight too!"_

_Ishida glanced at the injured Shinigami, who was trying to sneak away. "Hey! You from Eleventh Company! Take the girl and run!"_

"_Are you crazy?" the Shinigami yelled back. "Why should I?!"_

"_Because you don't want to die!" Ishida said. "Of you stay here, you're doomed! Force her if you have to! If you don't, I'll shoot you right now!"_

_The Shinigami – Orihime remembered one of the others calling him Makizou – flinched, knowing it wasn't just an empty threat. "Aw, rats!" He muttered, grabbing Orihime as he began running. "Come on! Let's go, little girl!"_

"_Did I say you could go?" Kurotsuchi said, thrusting out his arm; it instantly broke into segments as it reached for the two. Ishida, however, shot it with an arrow. "Did I say you could stop them?_

Orihime never found out how the battle ended; she woke up before she could see.

She lay in her bed, clutching one of her stuffed animals that she had grown accustomed to sleeping with; most of her visions (as she had decided to call them) came at night while she was sleeping, so every night she grabbed a teddy bear or a stuffed lion to cuddle with as she drifted off to sleep. They comforted her, and proved that she wasn't dreaming anymore when the dream was done.

Orihime had come to dread sleeping at night. The visions had been coming more frequently lately, and she never knew if she would have one. She found that most of them involved some kind of battle, most of which were cut off by her waking, usually in a cold sweat.

Orihime sighed as she crept out of bed to go to the bathroom and get a glass of water. As she washed her hands, she looked in the mirror and saw blood shot eyes staring back at her. It was no wonder her brother was getting worried. She had told him that she hadn't been sleeping well, but she could tell that Sora knew there was more to it than that.

She sighed again and hesitantly went back to her room.

----------

Sora wasn't the only one who was worried; Ishida and Ichigo were as well.

Even though Orihime continued to wear her usual smile, there seemed to be less enthusiasm behind it. They also saw when she started to nod off during class, no matter how hard she tried to hide it by saying she was just doing some new eye exercise and that she wasn't tired at all; though her constant yawning gave her away anyway.

As promised, she had told them about every one of her dreams. She fiercely denied it, however, whenever they asked her if she had been suffering from lack of sleep due to them. Their fears were realized, however, when she stayed home one day because she was sick.

"Hitsugaya," Ichigo said to his captain that night. "I realize how important it is for her memories to come back, but is it really worth it when her health is suffering?"

For once, Hitsugaya ignored the lack of respect Ichigo gave him and set down his tea. "I understand, Kurosaki, but what do you suggest? We have no way of slowing down the memories at this point; not when they're coming as fast as they are."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Ichigo yelled, slamming his fists on Hitsugaya's desk. "At this rate, the next thing They do isn't going to be just a warning!"

"You said yourself that They don't want her dead," Hitsugaya said calmly. "If that wasn't the case, then They would have made their move a long time ago. As it stands, however, all we know is that she is very valuable to them, and for whatever reason, it would hurt them to have her memories returned. Which is why there's nothing we can do at this point."

"But–"

"Keep in mind," Hitsugaya interrupted, "that the sooner all her memories return, the sooner Inoue will be able to return to normal and won't have to constantly wonder what's going on. Plus, I'm sure this new turn of events is making Them uneasy. I'm sure they will act soon. When that time comes, if we are able to defeat them, then we won't have to worry about what they want with her. I believe it is in everyone's best interest to just let things continue as they are for the time being."

As much as Ichigo didn't want Orihime to keep suffering, he knew that his captain was right. He gave a quick bow and left the office, where Ishida was waiting outside. Even though he wasn't a Shinigami, because of everything he'd done in the past, he was allowed to come and go from the Seireitei as he pleased.

"I guess you heard all that, right?" Ichigo asked, not even bothering to stop as he headed towards his quarters. Ishida nodded and followed. "I'm really tempted to just tell her everything that's going on," Ichigo continued. "I hate leaving her in the dark like this. She's probably wondering what the hell is going on, and why here life is so screwed up right now!"

"I'm as angry as you are about all this," Ishida said as they reached their destination and headed inside. "But we can't do anything that we may regret. What if he told her, but she didn't believe us? Or worse, she did believe us and decided to try something that would put her in danger."

"Like what?" Ichigo asked.

"Like trying to defeat Them on her own," Ishida replied. "Soul Society is doing a lot to try and find out what the enemy is planning, and to try and find and defeat them. We're putting all our energy into that. If she finds out that this is all because of her, she'll most likely feel responsible and try to do something to help. But, since she currently can't use her powers, she would only be a sitting duck."

"I never thought of that," Ichigo muttered. "I guess it would make sense not to tell her yet. But it's obvious she hasn't been sleeping well because of those damn memories, to the point that she's gotten herself sick. I just don't like it."

----------

"Hiroshi-sama, as you are aware, her memories have been coming back more frequently lately."

"I know that," Hiroshi said, sighing as he leaned back in his chair. "I thought you said you would take care of things!"

"I've been trying, but–"

"No buts!" Hiroshi snapped. "You've had plenty of chances. The problem is that you're too damn soft; which is why I've decided to put Yuri in charge. You will stay at your current position and continue watching things, but Yuri will be the only one taking action. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Hiroshi-sama…"

"What would you like me to do, Hiroshi-sama?" Yuri asked, speaking for the first time. Hiroshi grinned.

"Why don't we tell her what's going on?"

* * *

And thus ends the long-awaited chapter seven! Because I've made you all wait so long, I made this chapter a little bit longer than the others. Also, if you're confused on that little italicized part in the middle, don't worry about it. It'll become clear later. Even though I don't deserve it, I still hope you review and tell me what you think! Ja ne! 


End file.
